India’s national action plan on climate change — Climate leaders

On 30 June 2008, the Prime Minister released India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Prepared by the specially constituted Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change, the document was intended to provide a concrete road map detailing how India plans to move forward in combating climate change. The Plan, while recognising the immense threat posed by climate change, starts by first and foremost marrying climate change to development concerns in no uncertain terms. The very first line states, “India is faced with the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth while dealing with the global threat of climate change.” Thus the goal is development and climate change is a major problem, not least because it could hurt development targets.